Setts



' in earns GEORGE A. AMSDEN, OF LITTLETON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE LAMSON COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 0F MASSACHU- SETTS.

CASH-CARRIER.

Patented May 13, 1919.

Application filed .T uly 22, 1914. Serial No. 852,466.

To all whomz't may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. AMSDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Littleton, in the county of Middlesex and Another object has been to secure a maxi-A mum amount of protection for the cover of the carrier while at the same timeafl'ording the greatest amount of space within the receptacle, for a given size of the same.

These and other objects of my invention will be hereinafter referred to and the novel elements and combinations of means whereby said objects may be attained will be more y particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto. v

In the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof and in which like reference characters designate like parts through the'several views, I have exemplied a preferred construction; but as 'I am aware of, various changes and modications which may be made herein without departing from the spirit of myv invention I desire to belimited only by the scope of said claims. l

In the drawingz' Figure 1 is a plan view ofl my improved carrier; asmall portion of the cover being broken away to show the latch in its locking Fig. 2 is aside elevation of said carrierfa portion of the sideof the'receptacle being broken away.

" Fig. '3 isa `bottom view ofthe carrier.

Fig. Li'isan end view of the same; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a carrier in the handof an operator, the lid or cover being in its latch' in its closedor locking position; the view being designed to illustrate the advantage of the novel latch which is moved toits unlatching position by the thumb of the operator as the cover is being closed.

The carrier comprises the usual receptacle yl with its cover 2, the latter preferably being hinged upon a pin 3; and a coiled spring partially open position with the 4 upon this pin, disposed between the hinged portions of the cover, normally tending to move the cover to its open position.

Secured to the bottomv of the receptacle is a fiber plate 5 below whichis a second fiber plate 6 of somewhat narrower'width; and a metallic base plate 7 is provided with guide lugs 7 which co-act with the corresponding edge portions `of the plates '5 and '6 to-retain the carrier in position upon its rails when in' transit in a known manner. The plates 6 and 7 may be recessed or slotted 'for the reception of the usual pivoted jaw '8 of the gripping device with which lcarriers of this description are usually provided; the 'relatively Xed jaw 9 of the grip being secured to the botto-m plate 7.

The details of the'gripping device need not herein be further considered since these 'partsper se form no part of the present invention.

Pivoted at l0 to the cover is a preferably 'unitary or, single piece sheet metal latch l1, which, as indicatedin Figs. 1 and 2, is bent or offset, so that while4 the body 11 of the 'latch lies lflat and in contact with the under 'surface of the preferably `sheet metal cover, lthe actual latching endl of the latch is spaced downwardly from said cover so asv to permitv of its passage under a projection 12, preferably formed by slitting and driving in Vsomewhat more than a' sixteenth-inch thickness of the edge of the receptacle. The cov'er has the outer edge thereof nicked or recessed as at 13 to permit of its being closed, and when so disposed its upper surface is substantially `iiush with lthe upper edge of the receptacle l,l as indicated in Fig. 2. y

This disposition of the 4cover is a particularly advantageous one, since while the cover must be protected against the possibility of edgewise blows which it might receive while in transit, I have found that it is byv no meansnecessarythat theI cover be `set well down into the receptacle inthe manner which it has been customary heretofore to do in devices of this description.

By thus mounting the cover so that when closed its upper surface is flush with the edge of the receptacle, I obtain ample prospace' being substantially equal tothe full depth of the recess 'in said receptacle minus merely the thickness of the sheet metal cover.

The part or body l1 of the sheet metal latch which lies upon the inner side of the cover preferably has upon the outer 'end' of such part a stud or handle 14 the shank of which is preferably reduced as at 14" to ride in a narrow arcuate slot 15 in the cover. If this form of handle is used, then the inner head l ofthe stud is preferably caused to bear against an `upwardly Aarched spring member 15, the rend-s of which are upturned and bent over to form attaching ears, which latter may be riveted to the cover, as indicated in Figs. l and 2.

The member l5 extendsobliquely with respect to the major axis `olf the carrier, so :that vitl is directly .beneath the slot l5 and Lthereby serves in part to close this slot, or at least prevent exposure of the contents of the receptacle or box therethrough; while further the inwardly arching spring fende vthe papers or the like which may be in the .-receptacle, away from a part of the Ylatch.

The principal function, however, of the resilient member l5 is.- to lhold the latch against inadvertent movement out of its flocking position when so disposed, and conversel;7 .against movement toward its locking position when it should be in its unlatching posi-tion.

The reason yfor this is that 'when the carrier is in transit with the latch in its flocking position yto maintain thevcover closed, the severe jolts andjarsto which kthe carrier is subject during transit might cause the inadvertent .release of the cover, the spring of which would thereupon move it to its open position and allow the contents of the carrier to drop out. On the other hand when the carrier has 'been purposely opened ata station and its. contents removed, itis desirable that the latch remain in its unlock- `ing position to .facilitate re-closure of the `cover.

It sometimes happens, however, that in spite Yot `this provision of means for maintaining the latch in its open position when the box ,is empty, asA the vcarrier is thrown aroundupon -thefdesk of the cashier or at y 'a clerks station, the zlatch may -be knocked into its locking position; and in such case Ythe cover obviously .cannot be altogether closed until the latch has been rotated .counter-clockwise, as viewed. in Fig. 5.

Here, the particular disposition of the latch handle, emphasized in said figure by.

Ithe presence of the operators thuinb adacent thereto, is of utility since, if ethe .latch be disposed as shown in said t5, the very action .of pressing the cover to its closedf p0- v.lsition by `the thumb of .the -operatorserves also, practically automatically, to swing the 'latch, counter-clockwise; thu-smovingit to latching "e its unlocking position to permit the continued pressure of the thumbv to close the cover; whereupon a reverse movement of the stud '14 in its slot, by the thumb of the opera-tor, locks the cover; the handle of the `latch when the latter is in its fully opened position being most remote from the pivotal Y"axis of the cover and being nearest-tosa-id -axis when the latch is in its fully closed position; the entire travel of the handle when the latch is being closed l.being substantially directly back from .its most remote position from sai-d axis, toward the latter. `This ef- 'fects -afslight saving in time for the operator .under such conditions and' in a Abusy `store .where lmany thousand carriers are-:being deS- vrpfatchedeach day sucha-,saving of time may become very material. The inward Ymovement of the cover maybe limited ,in any =suitable manner, but I prefer to aga-in simply slit the wall of rthe receptacle at points spaced below theupper Aedge thereof l.about the thickness of the sheet metal cover, and to strike in, .as at 16, the preferably-sheet 'metal wall of the receptacle, immediately -beylow these slit-s, so. as to form small lips against which the cover may be `seated.l f

Although the latch is upon the inside of the .cover and is hence efficiently protected against injury while .the carrier is in transit, despite the .fact .that the yupper surface of rthe carrier is flu-sh with the upper edge of the receptacle, the tiat spring 15, covering as it does the outer end of the latch handle, prevents .injury tofthe contents of the box as the latch is .moved to its open -Ior closed position; and the shape `of the-oiset portion ll is such that even :thou-gh this part is -spaced inwardly from the cover Iit does not tend to Abite into. papersor other articles inl, the receptacle, said portion 1l being given an ins clination upwardly as its latching edge is approached, as indicated in Figs.. 2 and 4:; which results in the innermost portion lil of the part 1l being spaced farthest from the cover and" such innermost portion having but very slight movement owing `.to its 4nearnessto the pivotal axis of the vlatch and tending to bear against any papers which may be in the receptaclezand press them out `:of engagement wi-th thel llatching edge, the movement of which into place ,beneath the lip ror projection 12 might cause such papers to: .be mutilated. That this portion 11"""will thus press down upon any papers in the receptacle and ten-d Ato hold them outof engagement with the free end of the latch 11 becomes -evident upon an inspection ofF-ig.

4, since said portion 11" is the part ofthe latch which isnearest to thefbottoin ofthe receptacle when the'cover .is-closed.

Furthenthis upwardly directing/and-cammingfof the under surface of the-portion' 11 ge in'. p

.favors the riding; up upon saidr -papersof the This feature may appear to be comparatively trivial, but in the exemplified construction it is largely by reason thereof that it becomes feasible to dispose the -pivoted latch upon the underside of the coverrather than upon the outer side thereof; and, as above noted, this disposition of the latch permits the cover to be moved out flush with the edge of the receptacle to thereby increase the capacity of the box. i

I do not? of course desire to be limited to the specic provisions shown for pressing papers or bills in the receptacle out (of the way of' possible mutilation by the locking edge of the latch, but the construction shown has the merit of extreme simplicity.

I also particularly desire to call attention to the novel resilient member or spring 15, which has both of its ends firmly attached to the cover, whereby to prevent possible injury to this member, such as might occur were one end to be free; the spring also being materially strengthened or stiiened by thus having both of its ends rigidly held.'

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. A carrier for despatch apparatus comprising a receptacle having a cover'hinged thereto, a bent sheet metal latch `mounted upon the inner side of said cover and lhaving a body portion disposed substantially flatwise against said inner side of said cover, and a cover locking part offset from said body portion and out of parallelism with the latter to constitute means to press papers or bills in said receptacle, which might otherwise be mutilated by movements of the latch, away from the portion of said cover locking part which has the greatest'movement and which would thereby most tend to mutilate said papers.

2. A carrier for'despatch apparatus comprising a receptacle having a cover hinged Copies o! this patent may b9 obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. 6.

thereto and a bent sheet metal latch mounted upon the inner side of said cover and havingv an integral portion, `adjacent a locking edge thereof, adapted to press papers or bills 1n said receptacle which might otherwise be mutilated by said locking edge, away therefrom, said paper pressing portion being movable with respect to said cover in correspondence with the movements of said locking edge.

3. A carrier for despatch apparatus comprising a receptacle having an apertured cover hinged thereto, a latch mounted upon the inner side of said cover having a handle extending out through the aperture in said cover, and a resilient member adapted to hold said latch both in its locked and unlocked positions, said member havin both ends thereof attached to said cover wIiereby to prevent possible injury to said member and strengthen the same.

4. A carrier for despatch apparatus comprising a receptacle having a cover hinged thereto, a coiled spring tending to open said cover, a latch pivoted upon said cover and adapted, when operatively disposed, to resist the action of said spring, and means to hold said latch against inadvertent displacement when in its cover locking position, said means comprising an arched flat spring, both ends of which are attached to said cover, said spring arching downwardly into the receptacle when the cover is closed and tending papers or the like which may be disposed in said receptacle, away from a part of said latch.

In testimony whereof I have aiixed my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. AMSDEN.

"Commissioner of Patents, 

